Affected farmers will be able to receive direct one-off European financial assistance from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the opportunity to invest through strategic plans
The European Commission is taking further steps to support Member States affected by unprecedented disastersrelated to climate, europa.eu reported.
The Commission proposes amendments to three regulations of the EU to ensure that EU funds can be quickly mobilized to support post-disaster recovery.
The amendments affect the regulations for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) for the programming period 2021-2027, as well as The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) Regulation as part of the 2014-2022 framework.
These proposals come in response to the floods affecting the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the forest fires in Portugal in September 2024. The proposals taken together could allow the seven affected Member States (Poland, Romania, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary , Portugal and Slovakia ) to reprogram around €18 billion (approximately €17.7 billion under cohesion policy funds and €588 million under the EAFRD) for assistance in the context of climate-related disasters.
The proposals give Member States additional flexibility to use part of the funds to repair damaged infrastructure and equipment, provide food and basic material assistance and social and health support, and temporarily help finance short-time work schemes.
In addition, two new ERDF and ESF+ measures will be introduced. First, an additional 30% pre-financing will offer an immediate injection of liquidity to ease the budgetary pressure on affected Member States. Second, the EU will be able to finance up to 100% of the supported measures, without the need for national co-financing to start the reconstruction work.
A maximum of 10% of existing Cohesion Policy Funds allocated to Member States for the 2021-2027 programming period may be used to achieve these objectives, allowing transfers between Cohesion Policy Funds.
Rural development financing opportunities for farmers, foresters and businesses
Thanks to the changes proposed yesterday to EU rural development funds (EAFRD legal framework 2014-2022), Member States will have more flexibility to support farmers, foresters and businesses affected by natural disasters.
The financial support offered by the EAFRD will be 100% covered by EU funds. The amendment will allow Member States to directly and quickly provide emergency aid to farmers, foresters and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the form of lump sums. In addition, Member States will benefit from greater flexibility to introduce and strengthen measures to restore the productive potential of affected farms and forests.
What’s to come
The proposal will go through the ordinary legislative procedure in the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
Once adopted and in line with the principle of shared management, the Member States concerned will have to decide how best to use these flexibilities, how much to re-mobilize to deal with recent disasters, while taking into account their specific needs . Member States will then be required to submit program changes to the European Commission for review and acceptance.
The proposal may cover disasters occurring after 1 January 2024.
Today’s proposal comes as a direct response not only to the devastating floods that hit Central and Eastern Europe caused by Storm Boris and the forest fires in Portugal in September 2024, but could cover natural disasters occurring after 1 January 2024.
The proposal is part of a wider EU response that offers Member States opportunities to receive support after climate disasters both for immediate crisis relief through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism and for longer-term recovery and resilience building through the European Union Solidarity Fund, the Agricultural Reserve and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, among others.
For the 2021-2027 programming period, cohesion policy funds (which include the European Regional Development Fund (and the Interreg programmes), the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund Plus and the Just Transition Fund) already provide €14 billion in EU funding to support Member States in preventing and managing climate-related risks.
The European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) is another key EU instrument to support disaster recovery. Since 2002, EUSF aid has been mobilized as a sign of solidarity, offering support to EU Member States and EU accession countries facing natural disasters and major public health emergencies. Given the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, the Commission received an increase in the annual budget of the EUSF in the recent review of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The annual budget earmarked for the EUSF between 2024-2027 is now around €1.1 billion.
Under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), Member States have committed nearly €9 billion in their Recovery and Resilience Plans to finance disaster preparedness measures, including reforms and investments aimed at adaptation and preventing risks related to climate change, such as floods, fires, storms and droughts.
In addition the CAP strategic plans (2023-2027) support investments aimed at restoring agricultural or forestry potential after natural disasters, adverse climatic events or catastrophic events. This includes measures that contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, with a budget of €93 billion from 2023 to 2027.
Agricultural reserve of 450 million euros per year
The 2023-2027 CAP also includes an agricultural reserve of at least €450 million per year to help farmers deal with market disruptions or exceptional events affecting agricultural production or distribution. In recent years, the reserve has been deployed multiple times to directly support farmers affected by extreme adverse weather events.
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